


Promises, Promises

by ivorygraves



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Case Fic, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, TheDeckerstarNetwork
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-25
Updated: 2017-04-24
Packaged: 2018-10-23 16:13:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10722759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivorygraves/pseuds/ivorygraves
Summary: Lucifer and Chloe go undercover as a married couple to solve a string of murders.





	Promises, Promises

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rosweldrmr](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosweldrmr/gifts), [kirayukimuras](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=kirayukimuras).



> Written for the We Are Real Partner Exchange run by The Deckerstar Network. Originally, this was supposed to be a oneshot, but due to poor time management and real life getting in the way, I wasn't quite able to finish it in time and decided to split it into two chapters instead. This will be updated and completed by the end of the week. Until then, enjoy.

Olivia Monroe’s eyes are sharp as a knife.

Unfortunately for Chloe, Lucifer’s smile is sharper. And damn her if he isn’t content to fan those flames, an arbiter of chaos in the small and unsuspecting house fire that is her life.

“Lieutenant, I really don’t think —” Chloe begins, a little desperately.

“You don’t have to think, Decker. I already have, and it’s a brilliant idea,” Olivia says, never looking away from Lucifer, who grins at Chloe like he’s trying to upstage the sun itself. Chloe idly thinks about strangling him before she remembers she’s standing in the middle of a police precinct. “Besides, you two work very closely together on a regular basis anyway.”

“Yes, _very_ closely indeed, Detective,” Lucifer interjects. “One could almost say that we’re a match made in Heaven.” His eyes travel upward, directing his next statement to the ceiling. And it must be a testament to how much time she’s been spending with him lately, because she can almost pinpoint the exact moment his smile turns into something… unlike him. Bitter, almost. “Isn’t that right?”

Chloe shakes her head and sighs. “Be that as it may, Lucifer is one of the most well-known nightclub owners in the city. Plenty of people know by now that he spends his time working with the LAPD as a consultant; they’d know it was a setup as soon as they saw us together. Especially if they’re specifically targeting newlywed couples. It’s too convenient.”

“I’m afraid the Detective does have a point,” Lucifer agrees, and for a moment, Chloe almost thinks they’re on the same side.

“It’s not quite the typical sting operation, no,” Olivia allows. She rests her hands on her desk, leaning toward them that makes Chloe wonder whether it’s to emphasize her next point or to let her blouse ride a little lower than it strictly needs to. “But you were an actress before you became a cop, Decker. You could sell it. Make people _believe_ it. And then you’d be right there waiting to get the bastards.”

“Also a very good point,” Lucifer says. “You certainly sold your last performance with Hot Tub High School. Might as well have a last hurrah. I could even supply the hot tub.”

“You?” Chloe gestures at him. “Are _not_ helping.”

“On the contrary, I like to think I’m very helpful. I could be helpful multiple times, if asked nicely.”

“See?” Olivia says. “Already married.”

“Lieutenant, please, I really think we should discuss this more before we make a mistake,” Chloe tries one more time, but unlike with Lucifer, Olivia Monroe seems resistant to her charms. Which happens to look quite a lot like despair.

“People are _dying_ , Decker,” Olivia says firmly. “What more discussion could possibly be needed?”

And just like that, the lingering protest lodged in her throat withers and dies. She thinks of the poor couples who’d just begun their lives; she imagines their eyes bright with the promise of love and happiness and how that’d been taken away from them. All their plans, and hopes, and desires all snuffed out by some madman. It makes something in her chest constrict painfully, when she thinks about the scope of her own life. How she had everything they wanted, even though it didn’t last.

Chloe glances sideways at Lucifer, who is remarkably quiet. His eyes meet hers, and for a moment he looks older to her, almost ancient, something in his gaze that just about convinces her he knows exactly what’s going through her mind.

They really need to stop spending so much time together.

Clearing her throat, Chloe finally says, “Of course. You’re right. I’ll review the case files and Lucifer and I will go and investigate. And… work on our cover.”

“Perfect,” Olivia responds. Those sharp eyes give one more sweeping glance back and forth between her and Lucifer. “Make sure to invite me to the wedding.”

 

* * *

 

“You are _un_ believable,” Chloe tells him. Her eyes are locked on the road ahead of her and her hands have a vice-like grip over the steering wheel, because otherwise she might just drive them both off the road if she looks over and tries to wipe off that ridiculous, self-satisfied grin on his face.

“I am simply trying to help you solve a case!” Lucifer returns, furrowing his brow over at her. “May want to slow down, Detective. I’m not usually one to pass up a little speeding when the urge arises, but you’re usually less Fast and Furious and more… geriatric turtle?” 

“I swear to God, I’m going to shoot you,” Chloe promises him, but takes her foot off the gas a little.

“Been there, done that, had the limp to go with it. _He_ certainly had nothing to do with it, anyway.”

“Lucifer.”

“Yes, yes, I understand this may be a bit unorthodox compared to our usual cases together, but I don’t see why you’re so ruffled about it. We need bait to lure out our perpetrators, and we both just so happen to be perfect for the job. I don’t see the problem.” 

“The _problem_ is that it’s misguided, and assumes that our guy is an idiot.”

“Well, how do you know he’s not? Besides, Detective, you used to be in the business! The shining lights! The parties! The ill-advised yet undeniably fun drug-use! I will gladly follow your lead. Who knows, I may even benefit from some one-on-one acting lessons.”

Chloe snorts, despite herself. “Doesn’t that come dangerously close to lying? The whole pretending to be married and monogamous schtick? I thought that wasn’t your thing anyhow.”

That hits a little too close to home.

“Yes, well,” Lucifer starts, running his palms down the legs his pants. A nervous gesture, she’s come to learn. One he doesn’t use unless something’s made him uncomfortable. “I consider it less as ‘lying’ and more as… stretching the truth. There is a murderer in need of punishing, after all. I believe the situation calls for it.”

Chloe glances at him briefly, trying to be discreet about it. He’s no longer smiling; on the contrary, he looks almost pained, brows drawn together so tightly she can see the way his forehead wrinkles. “Right,” she says slowly. She considers what it might be that has him so disturbed all of a sudden, but she decides that right now wasn’t the time to go down that road. Not now, when their partnership was still so raw and newly salvaged from the wreckage of a few months ago. When he disappeared for two weeks and then showed back up again.

She’d been so angry at him. Hurt, too, if she were being honest. If she were smart, she would’ve turned him away. She had, at first, when he first resurfaced. But there was something… magnetic about Lucifer. Not in the uncanny way he seemed to charm people; she never understood how easily people buckled under his influence, but he seemed to draw people in like moths to a flame. No. It was more like one of the feelings she got when something didn’t seem right on a case. When her intuition led her to some new revelation or evidence. It was one of her gifts, her mother told her once. One of the skills she had that reminded her so much of her father. Even when it got her in hot water, like the Palmetto case, it never seemed to steer her wrong.

And something inside her, small and inexplicable and completely, irredeemably soft, told her that this was the right choice. To have him by her side, rather than nothing at all.

She still doesn’t understand it, but she’s trying to.

It doesn’t stop her from being a little extra guarded around him, which he seems to have accepted. But he also seems like the typical Lucifer, boisterous and inappropriate and always one to place himself into another’s personal bubble when it suits him.

And as if on cue, the man himself clears his throat, dragging her attention out of her own thoughts and back to the case at hand. “So,” he begins, gesturing over at her, “how do we get this whole shebang off the ground, my dear wife?”

She really is going to drive them clear off the road. “First of all, you’re _not_ calling me that.”

“No?” He raises a well-groomed brow at her, looking perplexed. “It seemed like an apt title. That’s usually what one calls their spouse of the female persuasion, yes? Is that not what Detective Douche used to call you?”

“ _Lucifer._ ”

“Yes, yes. Detective it is, then.”

“Anyhow,” she stresses, more than content to move this whole thing along. The sooner they get their guy, the sooner they can put this whole thing behind them where it belongs. “First, we need to question the people close to the last victims. Friends, family, people who might’ve witnessed something. I have a few names to go off of. We can start there.”

“Ooh, so you think the guilty party is someone who might’ve been close to our two lovebirds? How devious.”

“Possibly. It’s likely whoever did this were close to the last couple, at least, just going by the nature of the deaths themselves. Twenty-six gunshot wounds clearly shows some form of passion involved. And that was just the groom. Whoever did this was angry.”

Lucifer lets out a low whistle. “That certainly is one way to say ‘I object’.”

“No kidding. It still doesn’t explain the other murders, though. The only thing we know about them is that they were all newlyweds and in their twenties. They were all shot too, but not nearly as violently as this particular couple.” Chloe taps her finger on the wheel, drawing her lips into a tight line. “I mean, it’s possible that we just have a serial killer on our hands, but I can’t help but think there’s a connection there. Something that really made it personal for this guy.”

“No need to stress about it so hard, Detective,” Lucifer tells her. And something in his tone grabs her attention and has her hands stilling as she glances over at him. He’s staring at her openly, still smiling but not nearly as joyful. There’s an intensity and sureness there that momentarily disarms her when he says, “You will figure it out, as you always do.”

Chloe looks away.

 

* * *

 

“Mr. and Mrs. Stanton, I know this must be difficult, but can you tell me a little about your daughter, Caitlin?” Chloe asks. Lucifer stands behind her, eying the various trinkets on the shelves and photos on the walls.

Mrs. Stanton’s hands are balled up in her skirt. Her eyes are red-rimmed and glassy as she speaks. “My Katie was… incredible,” she says. “Smart, beautiful, talented. She was going to be a journalist, you know. She used to say she’d travel the world.”

“Until she met that Denton kid,” Mr. Stanton interjects.

“Now isn’t the time, Richard,” Mrs. Stanton snaps.

“Denton was her husband, correct?” Chloe asks.

“Unfortunately.”

“ _Richard_.”

Chloe glances at him. She can practically _feel_ Lucifer’s interest behind her, can picture him trying to pull the man’s secrets from him with nothing more than a devastatingly charming smile and command. “You didn’t approve of Caitlin and Denton’s marriage, Mr. Stanton?” 

Mr. Stanton shakes his head when his wife places a hand on his arm, but he shrugs it off. He’s unable to fully hide the scowl that cuts across his features. “That guy was a loser,” he spits out. “Absolutely no good for her.”

“And why is that?” Chloe presses. Lucifer edges his way into their little circle and sits next to her on the couch, far closer than strictly necessary. She tosses him a look and tries to scoot over to give them some much needed space, but he follows her easily, placing his hand upon hers and dragging it to rest on his knee.

If looks could kill, Chloe would be in jail, but Lucifer seems infuriatingly unaffected. In fact, he looks almost pleased with the whole turn of events, enough that he actually _beams_ at the grieving couple in front of him. “Am I sensing some bad boy vibes from our expired loverboy? A whirlwind romance filled with motorcycles and late night excursions that led to oh-so regrettable tramp stamps?”

 _I’m going to kill him_ , Chloe thinks.

Mr. Stanton draws in an unsteady breath. “More like it’d lead to him giving her a black eye.”

Lucifer’s smile crumbles. “Oh. Well, then. That’s quite the buzzkill, isn’t it?”

“ _Anyhow_ ,” Chloe says with a tight smile, pinching Lucifer’s hand so hard she’s almost certain she’s drawn blood. Lucifer coughs and eventually tries to extract his hand, which she releases with barely a blip in her speech. “So Denton was violent towards your daughter. Did you… protest their relationship, or try to convince her not to go through with the wedding…?”

“All the time,” Mr. Stanton says. “I begged her to leave him, but she never would. Like I said, the guy was trash. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is all _his_ fault.”

Chloe raises a brow. “Are you saying you think someone wanted to harm Denton, and your daughter got caught in the crossfire?”

“What else could it be?” he says, teeth practically clicking together with the force of his anger. His hands are balled up into fists and his skin, previously sallow and sickly looking from grief, reddens with his emotion. His wife gently curls her hand over his in wordless support. “My daughter was a good person. A kind, caring, _loved_ person. Nobody would want to hurt her unless it was because of him.”

“Mr. Stanton,” Chloe says quietly, watching him with steady eyes. “I know this must be difficult, but can you tell me who specifically might’ve been targeting Denton? Someone who held a grudge against him, maybe? Someone he’d angered in the past?”

Mr. and Mrs. Stanton exchange glances.

“Ooh, I know that look,” Lucifer says. “Out with it now. Tell us all about who extinguished our dear groom.”

“Well,” Mrs. Stanton starts. “We know he owed some people money.”

“Okay. Do you have any names?” Chloe asks, pulling out her pen and notepad.

“No. All we know is that he’d sometimes disappear for days at a time. Katie would call us and be absolutely distraught. And...”

Chloe looks up from her notes. “Is there something else, Mrs. Stanton?”

There’s another exchange of looks, and Chloe finds that she can’t help it. She glances over at Lucifer, who also meets her gaze for a moment before the four of them turn back to the conversation.

“There was another woman,” Mr. Stanton says. “Eileen Rodriguez. Her and Denton used to be together, but then he ended it. She didn’t care for that. She got really angry, even threw a brick through their window one night.”

“How do you know it was her?”

“She left a note. Wrote something about how he’d regret ever breaking up with her. Absolutely twisted girl. Completely out of her mind.”

“So you think she was jealous of Caitlin and Denton’s relationship?” Chloe asks. “You think she’d try to hurt them as a way to get revenge?”

“I’d bet money on it,” Mr. Stanton whispers. 

“Alright. Well, thank you for talking with us today. We’ll be —”

“Yes, we’ll be doing everything in our power to see to it that your cretin of an almost son-in-law and your daughter get the justice they deserve,” Lucifer interrupts. He turns to Chloe, and before she can even process what’s happening, he’s already folding an arm around her shoulders, his other hand touching her thigh. “Isn’t that right, dearest?”

“ _Lucifer_ ,” Chloe hisses. She attempts to duck out of his hold, but he simply smiles brightly at her and keeps her tucked against him. “What are you _doing_?”

“Oh, don’t be shy, now!” he tells her. “From one married couple to another and all that. Well, _almost_ married.”

He has the audacity to _wink_.

Mrs. Stanton looks back and forth between the two, brow furrowed in confusion. “Oh,” she says hesitantly. “You two are engaged? How lovely.” 

“Well, I haven’t exactly popped the question yet, but it’s only a matter of time. You know how these things go,” Lucifer says. “It is quite funny how you people put so much _meaning_ into a simple piece of jewelry.”

“What?”

Chloe does an excellent impression of someone trying to melt into the floor.

“Well, for a whole display that’s meant to symbolize one’s _love_ for another, all while standing in front of one of my Father’s fashion-challenged and horrifically undersexed henchmen, there is an air of materialistic splendor in it all, is there not? Dare I say, a hint of hedonism? _Greed_?”

“Alright, that’s enough —” Chloe starts.

“Yes, there may be a bit of all that,” Mrs. Stanton says. “But, as I’m sure you know, there’s far more to a marriage than a ring and a fancy proposal.”

“Oh? Do tell, Barbara.” Lucifer leans in a little, interest written all over his face.

“The wedding and ring itself are all very nice, but it’s secondary to the main purpose. Which is to promise the one you love that you’re going to stand by them no matter what. Why else would you declare it in front of all your friends and loved ones?”

Lucifer hums. “A promise, is it?”

“Some are better at keeping them than others,” Mr. Stanton adds disdainfully.

“That’s why you always need to be sure before you make it,” says Mrs. Stanton.

“Indeed,” Lucifer says thoughtfully.

At the sudden lull in conversation, Chloe clears her throat and moves to stand up, not caring that Lucifer has yet to take his arm back yet. She thinks, if presented with the opportunity, she’d gladly choose to rip it off and run as opposed to sitting there a moment longer. “Ah, anyway, that’s all the questions we had for you. We’ll be in touch if we have any more.”

“Right, yes, let us show you out —”

After a few more awkward moments of shuffling out the door, Lucifer tossing the couple another infuriating smile, Chloe turns to him and glares, swatting his arm away. “What the _Hell_ was that about?”

“I was simply setting the scene,” Lucifer says patiently, as if he’s explaining a rudimentary concept to a particularly challenged five-year old. “We _are_ supposed to be undercover, after all, are we not?”

“We were questioning the family, Lucifer. You didn’t have to lay it on quite that thick.”

“Didn’t I? You said yourself that the family and friends may be potential suspects. Besides, did you see how red-faced that Mr. Volcano chap was turning? He has utter contempt for our deceased; certainly enough motive to kill, if you ask me. He could be plotting as we speak.”

Chloe huffs and shakes her head. Yet she can’t help but admit to herself that he has a point. Mr. Stanton had motive and opportunity. She took a moment to consider it more, and Lucifer stood next to her with rapt attention, as if he were trying to tempt her into getting on board with his assessment.

“Well?” he asks finally.

“I don’t think it’s him,” Chloe says slowly. “We’d have to do more digging, but… something in my gut tells me he’s not the one. It feels off. He’d be an idiot to go blabbing to the police about how much he hated his daughter’s husband. And that doesn’t explain why he’d kill her, too.”

“Rage is a funny thing, Detective,” Lucifer says. “Sometimes one can’t always stop themselves when they’re in the moment. Pushed too far for too long and there goes that tenuous control. It’s quite an easy thing to break, really.”

Chloe gives him a long look. Something rises up in her, then, something she can’t name that leaves her unsettled. A question, perhaps, or just a feeling. It’s something she’s felt around him often before, like when she’s seen him do impossible things. “You sound like you’re talking from experience.”

“Perhaps I am,” he says, far more cryptically than she’s comfortable with.

“Still, I don’t think he did it. Let’s go and question this Eileen Rodriguez first. She might be able to shed a little more light on the situation.”

“Yes, Detective.”

“And Lucifer?”

He freezes mid-step, glancing up at her in question. “Mm?”

 “If you put your hand on my thigh like that again, you’re not getting it back.”

Lucifer grins. “Promises, promises.”

 

* * *

 

“Ms. Rodriguez, could you tell me a little about your relationship with Denton and his wife Caitlin?”

Eileen Rodriguez stares at them through a curtain of black hair, arms crossed over her chest. Her lip piercing looks far more pronounced when she juts her chin out at them, an almost defiant glint in her eyes.

“Definite murder vibes from this one,” Lucifer whispers. Loudly.

“I didn’t _murder_ anyone,” Eileen says, a sour note to her voice. “I was upset when Denton and I broke up. I got a little psycho. But I didn’t kill anybody. I’m not that dumb. And he wasn’t worth it anyway.”

Chloe raises a brow at her. “You threw a brick through their window, didn’t you? That seems pretty threatening.”

“Well, _yeah._ I was pissed. Anyone would be. I wanted to freak them out a little, mostly Denton. You don’t just break up with someone you’ve been with for years and then get with someone new. That’s not how it works.”

“I’m new to this whole human marriage thing, so correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty certain that _is_ how it works?” Lucifer butts in.

Eileen narrows her eyes at him. Chloe tries to stop the upward quirk of her lips. “Whatever, dude. You just don’t know what it’s like to be in love. You do stupid things sometimes.”

“Yes, I’m well aware,” Lucifer mutters. Something about the way his shoulders tense and the way he casts his eyes down has something catching in Chloe’s chest, but she works to dislodge it, attempting to steer the conversation back to the subject at hand.

“So you admit that you were being antagonistic to Denton and Caitlin a few weeks before their deaths. Can you account for your whereabouts the day it happened?”

“I was with the journalism club at school. Sometimes we go around interviewing people, looking for campus stories, stuff like that. Caitlin had texted us saying she was sick that day and wouldn’t be able to make it, so she wasn’t there. You could talk to the other members, though. They’d be able to back me up.”

Chloe nods, scribbling down all the information as she speaks. “Got any names? Members, that is? Maybe the club leader, or an officer?”

“Jacob,” Eileen says. “Jacob Zinser. He’s the president. And, FYI, the vice president, Liam Dawson? Totally in love with Caitlin, and was _totally_ not there that day. In case you wanted to check up on that.”

“We will, thank you,” Chloe says. “We got some info about Denton and owing people money. Know anything about that?”

Eileen shrugs, fiddling with her nails. She smoothed away a few pieces of chipped paint before making a soft noise in the back of her throat. “I mean, it wasn’t a huge deal. Denton had trouble paying his rent on time, so he’d borrow money from Jacob every now and then. He was doing his best to pay him back.”

“Apparently Denton would disappear for days at a time. Caitlin would get upset —”

“Oh my god.” Eileen rolls her eyes. “Look, not to speak ill of the dead or whatever, but Caitlin could be kind of a drama queen. Denton would leave for a few days and go to Jacob’s house to crash because she was constantly losing her shit at him about the whole money thing.”

“How do you know that?”

“I mean, he’d tell me. And she’d always be pissy at him during club meetings. It was kind of hard to ignore. We’re all in the same social circle.”

“Well, that’s quite the incestuous little group you’ve got there, isn’t it?” Lucifer comments. He places his hands in his pockets and leans forward, eying Eileen carefully. “Now tell me, Eileen, darling, what was your game, mm? To win him back? Have him cry on your shoulder? Be there at the right place to put all the pieces of his failure back together? Put a few bullets in him and his fiance once it didn’t work? Is that what you truly _desired_?”

Eileen is quiet for a moment as Lucifer’s influence washes over her. Chloe can see the change almost instantly; the way she sort of zones out, a slightly slack-jawed expression passing over her as she leans further into Lucifer, a force of gravity that she can’t resist.

Chloe waits.

“I…” Eileen starts.

Lucifer smiles encouragingly. “Yes?”

Eileen’s face crumples. “I just wanted him to be happy.”

Lucifer’s smile instantly drops, something almost like disgust taking its place. “Well, that’s _boring_.”

“ _Lucifer_ ,” Chloe chides him, pressing him with her own dirty look before she hesitantly places a hand on a tearful Eileen’s shoulder. “We’re just trying our best to look at this from every angle.”

“I mean, I know I look suspicious or whatever because of that stupid brick thing, but it really wasn’t me.” Eileen takes a deep, hitching breath, practically a sob. Lucifer wrinkles his nose in distaste and obvious discomfort when she swipes her sleeve over her wet face. “I was so goddamn _mad_ at him, but I’d never want him to actually get hurt. Or Caitlin either. We weren’t super close but we were part of the same club. After awhile, it honestly didn’t matter all that much. I’d moved on and so had they. If he was happy with her, then that’s what really mattered.”

“Ugh, I can practically feel the diabetes settling in, and I’m immortal,” Lucifer says.

“Like I said, pal, you just don’t get it because you’ve never been in love. Come back to me when you’ve actually got some life experience,” Eileen tells him.

“I beg your _pardon_ , you Amy Lee carbon copy —”

“Gotta admit, she has a point,” Chloe says dryly.

“ _Detective!_ Whose side are you on? I’m your _husband!_ ”

Chloe’s already walking away. She decides not to deem that last part with a response; she’s learned well enough by now that doing so only encourages him.

Eileen gives him the side-eye. “That’s your _wife?_ ”

“It would seem that way for now, yes.” Lucifer sighs and rolls his eyes, shoving his hands back into his pockets as he watches her departing back. “Perhaps this whole marriage thing is more complicated than I originally anticipated.”

Eileen shrugs. “I mean, you’re pretty hot, so you have that going for you.”

“ _Finally_ you say something of substance.”

 

* * *

 

From what Chloe understands, Jacob Zinser and Liam Dawson are both incredibly intelligent, academically gifted, devastatingly handsome, and remarkably talented members of the UCLA journalism club.

They are also complete duds for her case.

“I liked Caitlin when we were freshmen, but in love with her? Eileen’s just making up stories. I was totally here that day, by the way, and I have the pictures and logs to prove it. Creative writing’s always been more her thing than journalism, if you get my drift,” Liam says.

“Yes, your ‘drift’ might as well be the height of a tsunami, with how subtle you are,” Lucifer tells him.

Chloe is inclined to agree, but doesn’t comment on it. “So she was lying?”

“Not so much lying as twisting the truth. It always made it easier than admitting her own faults,” Jacob explains. “Liam and Caitlin used to work closely on projects together so they were around each other a lot. She just took it as something more than it was.”

“Come on, lay off, Jake. She’s been going through a lot,” a quiet voice came from the corner of the room. A small woman peers at them all from behind her laptop, her brown hair tied up in a messy bun on her head. “She’s not that bad.”

“Yeah, well, we’ve all been going through a lot too, Cassie. Doesn’t give her the right to give bogus info to the cops,” Liam says.

Cassie rolls her eyes at them and goes back to typing.

“Can any of you think of any reason why someone would want to hurt Caitlin and Denton? Or any other couples like them?” Chloe asks. “We think it might be someone connected to this campus.”

“Shit,” Jacob whistles lowly. “Seriously?”

“It’s a possibility. You can’t think of anyone who might’ve had a motive?”

Jacob and Liam exchange looks before frowning back over at her. “Not… really, Detective. We wish we knew.”

Chloe sighs. There goes that, then. “Alright. Thank you for your time, gentlemen.” She pauses, waiting for Lucifer to pipe up, but nothing comes. When she glances over at him, he’s already diverted his attention to something outside the window, obviously not paying any attention. “Hey. Lucifer. _Hello._ ” She jabs her elbow into his side.

He finally blinks and looks back over at her. “Hm?”

She glances over at the confused pair of college kids in front of them. “You gonna give your spiel or what?”

“Oh,” he says, surprise written blatantly on his face. “Oh, yes, of course.” He wraps his arm around her shoulders and she actually allows it this time, keeping her hands clutched around the small notebook she’d been holding so as to make this as easy as possible. “You’ve all been sufficiently useless. Hopefully my wife and I don’t die a terrible death.”

There’s a pause.

“Uh,” Cassie says. “Aren’t you the guy from Lux?”

Lucifer grins. “Indeed!”

“And you two have been working together for awhile now,” she continues. “And now you’re married?”

“Yes, _yes_ , everybody keeps asking that question,” Lucifer grouses, a sour look rising to his face. Chloe shakes her head and takes his hand in hers, entwining their fingers together. “Detective?” His brows quirk up in confusion. 

She squeezes his hand a little tighter. _Now’s not the time to break character, Lucifer_ , she thinks. “They just didn’t expect that we’d ever get engaged, _dear._ Workplace relationships and all.” 

He seems to get the picture then, and he grins at her so brightly she almost has to look away. “Ah, yes. Silly me.” He holds her hand a little tighter and even caresses the back of it with his thumb. “We are quite the unlikely pair, aren’t we?”

“Oh, I mean, it’s not that,” Cassie clarifies. “Anyone with eyes could see that you’re into each other, it just seems really sudden.”

Chloe frowns then, turning her attention away from her ‘husband’ to rest on her. “How do you know so much about us, exactly?”

“It’s LA,” Liam says. “News gets around, and we’re journalism students. We actually did a small project on you guys for a class. You solve a lot of cases, protect the city… you know. And since Mr. Morningstar’s so well known because of Lux, it’s just kind of hard not to hear the gossip too.” He shrugs. “We just hadn’t heard it’d gotten that serious.”

“Right,” Chloe mutters, suddenly feeling more exposed in front of them than she’d ever care to admit. She’d struggled through the unwanted attention on her when she’d been younger, when her mother had been at the height of her career and she’d been in the spotlight for _Hot Tub High School_ , but it was still something that had her haunches rising. That lack of privacy, that feeling of being constantly watched and monitored. She hates it, even now.

Lucifer seems to notice her discomfort and nudges her with his shoulder. His hand is warm around hers as he grazes her his thumb over her skin over and over again, as if to soothe her. And weirdly enough, she finds that it _works_. The tension drains out of her shoulders a bit under his simple attention, and she finds herself returning his smile with a soft quirk of her lips.

“Perhaps we should get a room, darling,” Lucifer says softly. “The children are watching, after all.”

Chloe snorts and pulls away, running her hand down over her jeans. Were they that clammy before? “No need. We’re pretty much done here anyway. Just one last question...” She turns her attention to Jacob. “You lived with Denton for a period of time, right?”

“Not really,” he says. “More like I let him crash at my place a couple times. Him and Caitlin got into fights every now and then and he needed a getaway.”

“Because he was borrowing money from you?”

“I mean… yeah? I guess? I don’t know, I never really bothered to get involved with all of that. Wasn’t really something I wanted to stick my nose into, you know?”

“Were you ever upset or resentful of Denton for imposing on you so many times?”

Jacob grows quiet at that. “No,” he says finally. “I mean, it wasn’t _ideal._ But he is — _was_ my friend, and I was just trying to help him out.” 

“Mm,” Chloe hums thoughtfully, checking over her notes for a moment before slipping the notepad into her back pocket. “Alright. I think that’s all the questions we had at the moment. We’ll be in touch.”

 

* * *

 

The drive back to Lux is quiet.

Chloe keeps her eyes resolutely trained on the road ahead of her, though it is a testament either to her ability to multitask or the weight of Lucifer’s presence that she takes note of every little movement he makes in the seat next to her. He rarely fidgets, an image of grace and sophistication when he’s not being the most inappropriate being on the planet, though she can see him occasionally flicking his gaze towards her out of her peripheral. She sees his jaw moving every now and then, as if he wants to say something but thinks better of it.

She chooses to let the silence stretch on even as she rolls up in front of Lux. Even now, she can see the string of people lined up outside, hearing the thrum of music pouring outside as the bouncers let people in.

“Would you like to come in? Have a drink?” Lucifer finally asks. “We could discuss the case more. And how we’re going to lure our perpetrator out, as it were.”

And it’s strange, to know that even though he didn’t affect her like he did most people, she still felt drawn to him in inexplicable ways. How even now, she wants nothing more than accept his offer and go inside with him, sit in one of the booths and go through her notes while he tittered away nearby giving her insight. But she also knows it’s a bad idea, both because she needs to get home soon and because she doesn’t want to put herself in that position. Doesn’t want to let that careful distance between them lessen when it’s better to accept their partnership as it is.

“I should get going,” she finally says. “I need to get home to Trixie, and all.”

“Right. I suppose your spawn does need you.” Despite that, Lucifer doesn’t get out of the car. He keeps his gaze on her, like he’s searching for something, trying to work something out. Work _her_ out. “You should come in, though. Soon,” he continues. “A happy marriage certainly wouldn’t be believable if the couple isn’t ever seen together, after all.”

Chloe lets out a soft snort. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

There’s another brief silence before he breaks it again. “Detective, I —” He stops.

Chloe looks at him. “Yeah?”

He opens his mouth again to speak before shutting it again. And really, that has to be the biggest surprise of all, because Chloe Decker has rarely ever seen Lucifer Morningstar at a loss for words. “I look forward to catching our bad guy, as always,” he finally settles on before he moves to get out of the car. “Goodnight, Detective.”

She blinks, not quite sure what to say at first, before she takes it for what it is. “Night, Lucifer.” 

She can see his disappearing figure in her rearview mirror as she drives away.


End file.
